Thomas Francis Fennell II (March 1, 1904 – May 23, 1991) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. He was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.

Life and sports career

Fennell was born on March 1, 1904, in

Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. At Cornell, he lettered in football at left

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

in 1925 and won the university's

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

boxing championship as a freshman, junior and senior. After obtaining his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

from Cornell in 1926, he served as an assistant football coach under

Gil Dobie Robert Gilmour Dobie (January 21, 1878 – December 23, 1948) was an American college football player and coach. Over a period of 33 years, he served as the head football coach at North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State Un ...

from 1927 to 1931 while attending

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private university, private, Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, Cornell Law School offers four degree programs (Juris Doctor, JD, Maste ...

, from which he earned an

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in 1929. An expert in labor arbitration, Fennell was first an associate and then a partner beginning in 1943 at

Shearman & Sterling Shearman & Sterling was a White shoe multinational law firm headquartered in New York City, United States. In 2024 it merged with Allen & Overy to form A&O Shearman. History Wall Street origins Shearman & Sterling was founded in New York City ...

, a law firm in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Fennell became

of counsel Of counsel is the title of an attorney in the legal profession of the United States who often has a relationship with a law firm or an organization but is neither an associate nor partner. Some firms use titles such as "counsel", "special couns ...

to the firm in 1987. He was an innovator in

arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...

and represented several private bus companies in New York City, as well as many other clients. From 1972 to 1988, Fennell handled arbitration involving the Algerian National Oil Company and the construction of a pipeline by a consortium of French and Italian companies. Other clients included

Godfrey Stillman Rockefeller Godfrey Stillman Rockefeller (May 1, 1899 – February 23, 1983) was an American financier and chairman of Cranston Print Works, a Rockefeller-owned textile company. Early life Godfrey Stillman Rockefeller was born on May 1, 1899, and was the sec ...

, grandson of

William Rockefeller William Avery Rockefeller Jr. (May 31, 1841 – June 24, 1922) was an American businessman and financier. Rockefeller was a co-founder of Standard Oil along with his elder brother John Davison Rockefeller. He was also a part owner of Anaconda Co ...

, and the

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of Tissue paper, tissue, Pulp (paper), pulp, paper, toilet and paper towe ...

corporation. Fennell died in 1991 in his

apartment of a cardiac arrest. Fennell's uncle, Thomas Francis Fennell, 1896 Cornell graduate, is also a Cornell Athletic Hall of Famer.

References

External links

Cornell Daily Sun, Volume XLVI, Issue 35, 31 October 1925. Page 1 - Thomas R. (sic) Fennell '26 - Left end ... will play his first game of the season today

* [https://www.nytimes.com/1925/10/07/archives/cornell-stars-still-out-fennell-wakeman-isaly-on-sidelines-as.html?sq=Tom+Fennell&scp=1&st=p New York Times - October 7, 1925 - CORNELL STARS STILL OUT.; Fennell, Wakeman, Isaly on Sidelines as Varsity Scrimmages]
New York Times - October 29, 1925 - DOBIE DRILLS HARD ON AN AIR DEFENSE; Anticipates Passing Attack From Columbia and Keeps Squad Late on Such Plays

''Mr. Shearman and Mr. Sterling and how They Grew'', 1963, Yale University Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fennell, Thomas F 1904 births 1991 deaths American football ends Cornell Big Red football coaches Cornell Big Red football players Cornell Law School alumni Lawyers from New York City Players of American football from the Bronx Boxers from the Bronx Players of American football from New York City 20th-century American lawyers